Making school choice a priority

Vote for education reform on Tuesday

March 17, 2014

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's war on charter schools should be a wake-up call to people who support school reform in Illinois: On Tuesday, choose carefully.

Candidates for governor and the General Assembly have spent a great deal of time debating the state's fiscal woes, and justifiably so. But the direction of education policy in this state deserves equal time. This state needs a more urgent push for choice and innovation. It's one of the reasons this page has endorsed Bruce Rauner in the Republican primary for governor. He has enthusiastically supported more education options for children. Want evidence? Visit Rauner College Prep in Chicago, where 83 percent of the class of 2013 enrolled in a four-year college.

Across the nation, 32 programs have been launched that allow students to use public money at the school of their choice, according to the American Federation for Children. But not in Illinois.

This has been a bipartisan effort. More than half of the school choice programs set up by states in the last five years were approved by Democratic legislatures or signed by Democratic governors, according to the federation. Not in Illinois.

During the 2012-13 school year, more than 9,300 Indiana students participated in a voucher-type program. More than 50,000 students in Florida were able to attend a school of their choice. In all, nearly 250,000 kids nationwide were freed from the government-imposed boundaries of their local school districts and empowered to find a better school. Not in Illinois.

School choice is no longer an experiment. We have sound models to emulate. Charter schools, vouchers, tax credits, scholarships — they've all been tested. New Orleans. Milwaukee. Missouri. Cleveland. Arizona. Colorado. Washington, D.C. And on and on.

The Illinois legislature came close a few years ago. The Senate approved a bill that would have allowed thousands of Chicago kids in some of the worst-performing schools to use a tuition voucher to attend a different school of their choice. But there is little momentum in Springfield now.

And though graduation rates at Chicago Public Schools have improved, roughly one-third of CPS students still drop out. Of the students who graduate, only eight out of 100 earn a bachelor's degree by their mid-20s.

There are persistent lawmakers, who push every year to empower students and parents. But a sizable number of lawmakers in Springfield protect the status quo. Some of them send, or sent, their own children to private schools, but they won't give other parents the same option.

Do the people who want to represent you support school choice? We asked every candidate for governor and every candidate in a contested primary race for the House and Senate two direct questions: Do you support vouchers? Do you support charter schools? You can find their answers at chicagotribune.com/elections.